THE 

AMERICAN CHURCHES 

THE BULWARKS 






AMERICAN SLAVERY, 



V 
BY JAMES G". felRNEY. 



THIRD AMERICAN EDITION. 



REVISED BY THE AUTHOR. 



JPUBLISHED BY PARKER FILLSBURY 

1885. 



INTRODUCTION. 



BY PARKER PILLSBURY. 



The following work is reproduced without apology. It 
is needed as authentic anti-slavery history, and as showing 
beyond all dispute who were most zealous defenders of 
American slavery, and the most virulent opponents of the 
active abolitionists. 

The author, Hon. James G. Birney, the only truly anti- 
slavery man ever nominated for the presidency while slavery 
lasted, was a native -of Kentucky, and connected both by 
birth and marriage with many of its first families. His ed- 
ucation completed, he spent fifteen years in Hunts ville, Ala- 
bama, a successful lawyer, and for a time solicitor-general, 
besides being tendered a seat on the bench of the supreme 
court. 

He was appointed by the legislature to nominate, at his 
sole discretion, the faculty of the State University. Return- 
ing to Kentucky, he was called to the Professorship of Polit- 
ical Economy, Rhetoric, and Belles-Lettres in Centre College 
at Danville in that state. And those who knew him testified 
that " his character and Christian influence were quite equal 
to his public standing." But public and private virtues, 
intellectual eminence, and the highest lay official positions 
in the Presbyterian church, were all lost in becoming a 
repentant slaveholder and an active, earnest abolitionist. 

About the commencement of the wondrous career of Will- 
iam Lloyd Garrison and the establishment by him of The 
Liberator in Boston, Mr. Theodore D. Weld, one of our most 
eloquent and powerful anti-slavery lecturers and writers, en- 
countered Mr. Birney while yet a slaveholder, and held some 
searching discussions with him and his minister, also a slave- 
holder, on the right of one man to hold absolute property in 
his fellow-man. The argument began with the minister in 
the absence of Birney, who welcomed Weld to the parson- 
age till he should return. He came in a few davs, and 



then the minister invited him and another lawyer to meet 
Weld at dinner at his house. 

Here, also, the right of property in man problem was in 
order. But to the stunning surprise of the minister, he 
learned that Birney was already fully convinced, intellect- 
ually, that only the right of the kidnapper could be urged for 
holding such property ; and that kidnapped human chattels 
could never be owned, or held as lawful possessions, though 
sanctified by transfer and conveyance through a thousand 
generations ! 

The discussion continued, earnest and more earnest, all daj^ 
and evening, even the minister's wife leaning to the Birney 
side; tea was had and drank; and at a late hour Mr. Birney 
invited Weld to dinner next day with him, and to come to 
his office in the morning. And he went in the morning and 
found his host in profound meditation, sitting alone in the 
inner office, and ready to confess that he had slept only Httle 
the past night, but that he was fully assured of his duty, and 
that his slaves must have their freedom, then numbering, as 
Mr. Weld now thinks, forty-two. 

Mr. Birney had for some years been giving much thought 
to the African colonization system. He had even accepted 
an agency in that iniquitous and slavery devised and slavery 
cherished enterprise, his field of operations including five of 
the large slaveholding states. But he soon found himself 
laboring in the interest of a movement adapted and intended 
to perpetuate the very curse he himself deplored, and was 
working, as he supposed, to destroy. 

So, having already liberated his slaves, and generously 
provided for their well-being and well-doing so far as he 
was able, he espoused the cause of "immediate and uncon- 
ditional emancipation," and by purse, pen, and voice com- 
menced its proclamation. Driven from his native state for his 
anti-slavery fidelity, he crossed over into Ohio and estab- 
lished an anti-slavery newspaper. But he was repeatedly 
mobbed, his press, types, paper, and other office property 
being taken out and sunk in the Ohio river, the city authori- 
ties in large numbers evidently sanctioning, as did many of 



the church officials actually sanctify by their presence and 
approval, the shameful outrages. A well filled pamphlet now 
before me, printed at the time and on the spot, fully war- 
rants all these statements. 

The following is a specimen of the handbills that placard- 
ed the bulletin boards and walls : 

"^ Fugitive from Justice/'' 100 Dollaj^s Reward I 

The above sum will be paid for the delivery of one James 
G. Birney, a fu^fitive from justice, now abiding in the city of 
Cincinnati. Said Birney, in ail his associations and feel- 
ings, is black, although his external appearance is white. 
The above reward will be paid, and no questions asked, by 

Old Kentticky. 

This was posted on a Sunday morning. The next day the 
Cincinnati Whighd\.(k, editorially, — 

" Public Sentiment. We are informed on indisputable 
authorit}^ that a large number of boarders have left the 
Franklin House in this city; have left it on account of the re- 
ception of Mr. Birney, Editor of the Philanthropist as a 
boarder. There is no doubt an overwhelming majority in 
the city are opposed to the wild schemes of the abolitionists." 

The proceedings of some of the "anti-abolition meetings," 
as they were named, showed that they were disgraceful as 
well as unlawful assemblies, though called and conducted by 
the authorities and best citizens. One committee, appointed 
to draft resolutions, contained thirteen men who were mem- 
bers of Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal,Wesleyan Methodist, 
Swedenborgian, and Unitarian churches. So was Mr. Birney 
regarded and rewarded by his fellow-citizens and fellow- 
Christians, only for liberating and providing for his slaves, 
and then becoming a faithful abolitionist! Only that and 
nothing more ! He had experience enough with the churches 
and clergy to fully warrant the title of his little book, as all 
who read it will believe without more argument. 

Whoever would see more on the subject, on the whole 
matter of Slavery and Anti-Slavery as existing in the coun- 
try forty years ago, are respectfully referred to Acts of the 
A7iti-Slavery Apostles, by Parker Pillsbury, to be had of him 
at Concord, N. H., price one dollar and fifty cents. 



Publislier's Notice. 

This Avork is reproduced by Parker Tillsburjs Concord, N. H. : price, 
single copy, 15 cents; 2 copies, 25 cents; 10 copies, 1 dollar. 

Also, for sale, "Acts of the Anti-Slavery Apostles," by Parker Pills- 
bury : price, postage paid, one dollar and fifty cents. 



AMERICAN SLAVERY. 



The extent to which most of the "churches in America 
are involved in the guilt of supporting the slave system 
is known to but few in this country."* So far from being 
even suspected by the great mass of the religious commu- 
nity here, it would not be believed but on the most indis- 
putable evidence. Evidence of this character it is proposed 
now to present — applying to the Methodist Episcopal, the 
Baptist, the Presbyterian, and the Protestant Episcopal 
churches. It is done with a single view to make the 
British Christian public acquainted with the real state of 
the case — in order that it may in the most intelligent and 
effective manner exert the influence it possesses with the 
American churches to persuade them to purify themselves 
from a sin that has greatly debased them, and that threat- 
ens in the end wholly to destroy them. 

The following memoranda will assist English readers 
in more readily apprehending the force and scope of the 
evidence. 

I. Of the twenty-six American states, thirteen are 
slave states. Of the latter, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, 
Missouri, and Tennessee (in part), are ^\^YQ-selling states ; 
the states south of them are s\aYe-buyi7ig and slave-con- 
suming states. 

II. Between the slave-selling and slave-buying states 
the slave-trade is carried on extensively and systemati- 
cally. The slave-trader, on completing his purchases for 
a single adventure, brings the gang together at a conven- 
ient point ; confines the rpen in double rows to a large 
chain running between the rows, by means of smaller lat- 
eral chains tightly riveted around the wrists of the slaves, 

* England— where this pamphlet was first published. 



8 

and connected with the principal chain. They are in 
this way driven along the highways (the small boys, the 
women, and girls following), withont any release from 
tlieir chains till they arrive at the nltimate place of sale. 
Here the}'^ occupy harracoons, till they are disposed of, one 
by one, or in lots, to those who will give most for them. 

III. Ministers and office-bearers, and members of 
churches are slaveholders — buying and selling slaves 
(not as the regular slave-trader), but as their convenience 
or interest may from time to time require. As a general 
rule, the itinerant preachers in the Methodist church are 
not perQiitted to hold slaves — but there are frequent 
exceptions to the rule, especially of late. 

IV. There are in the United States, about 2,487,113 
slaves, and 386.069 free ]people of color. Of the slaves, 
80,000 are members' of the Methodist church; 80,000 of 
the Baptist; and about 40,000 of the other churches. 
These church members have no exemption from being 
sold by their owners as other slaves are. "Instances are 
not rare of slaveholding members of churches selling 
slaves who are members of the same church with them- 
selves. And members of churches have followed the 
business of slave-auctioneers. 

V. In most of the slave states the master is not per- 
mitted formally to emancipate, unless the emancipated 
person be removed from the state (which makes the 
formal act unnecessary), or, unless by a special act of the 
legislature. If, however, he disregard the law, and per- 
mit the slave to go at libert}' and '"do'- for himself, the 
law — on the theorj^ that every slave ought to have a mas- 
ter to see to liim — directs him to be sold for the benefit of 
the state. Instances of this, however, must be very rare. 
The people are better than their laws — for the writer, 
during a residence of more than thirty years in the slave 
states, never knew an instance of such a sale, nor has he 
ever heard of one that was fully proved to have taken 
place. 

VI. There is no law in any of the slave states forbid- 
ding the slaveholder to remove his slaves to a free state ; 
nor against his giving the slaves themselves a " pass" for 
that purpose. The laws of some of the free states present 
obstructions to the settlement of colored persons within 



their limits — but these obstructions are not insurmount- 
able, and if the validity of the laws should be tried in the 
tribunals, it would be found they are unconstitutional. 

VII. In the slave states a slave cannot be a witness in 
any case, civil or criminal, in which a white is a party. 
Neither can a free colored jDerson, except in Louisiana. 
Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois (free states), make colored 
persons incompetent as witnesses in any case in which a 
white is a party. In Ohio, a white person can prove his 
own ("book") account, not exceeding a certain sum, by 
his own oath or affirmation. A colored person cannot, as 
against a white. In Ohio the laws regard all who are 
mulattoes, or above the grade of mulattoes, as icliite. 

VIII. There is no law in the slave states forbidding 
the several church authorities making slaveholding an 
offence, for which those guilt}^ of it might be excluded 
from membership. 

The Society of Friends exists in the slave states — it ex- 
cludes slaveholders. 

The United Brethren exist as a church in Maryland 
and Virginia, slave states. Their Annual Conference for 
these two states (in which are thirty preachers) met in 
February [1840]. The following is an extract from its 
minutes : — 

*' No charge is preferred against any (preachers) except Frank- 
lin Echarcl and Moses Michael. 

" It appeared in evidence that Moses Michael was the owner 
of a female slave, which is contrary to the discipline of our 
church. Conference therefore resolved, that unless brother 
Michael manumit or set free such slave in six months, he no 
longer be considered a member of our church." 

IX. When ecclesiastical councils excuse themselves 
from acting for the removal of slavery from their respec- 
tive communions by saying, they cannot legislate for the 
abolition of slavery ; that slavery is a civil or x>olitical in- 
stitution ; that it " belongs to C?esar," and not to the 
church to put an end to it, — they shun the point at issue. 
To the church member who is a debauchee, a drunkard, 
a seducer, a murderer, they tind no difficulty in saying, — 
"We cannot indeed proceed against your person, or your 
property — tliis belongs to Caesar, to the tribunals of the 
country, to the legislature; but we can suspend or 



10 

wliollj cut yon off from the communion of the church, 
witli a view to 3^onr repentance and its purification." If 
a wliite member sliould by force or intimidation, day after 
da}', deprive another wliite member of liis property", the 
authorities of the churches would expel him from their 
bod}', should he refuse to make restitution or reparation, 
althougli it could not be enforced except through the 
tribunals, over which they have no control. There is, 
then, nothing to prevent these authorities from saying to 
the slave-holder, ''Cease being a slaveholder and remain 
in the church, or continue a slaveholder and go out of it. 
You have your choice.'' 

X. The slave states make it penal to teach the slaves 
to read. So also some of them to teach the free colored 
X)eople to read. Thus a free colored parent may suffer the 
j^enalty for teaching his own children to read even the 
Scriptures. None of the slave-holding churches, or re- 
ligious bodies, so far as is known, have, at any time, 
remonstrated with the legislatures against this iniquitous 
legislation, or petitioned for its repeal or modification. 
Nor have they reproved or questioned such of their mem- 
bers, as, being also members of the legislatures, sanctioned 
such legislation by their votes. 

XL Ihere is no systematic instruction of the slave- 
members of churches, either orally or in an}^ other way. 

XII. Uniting with a churcli makes no change in the 
condition of slaves cd home. They are thrown back just 
as before, among their old associates, and subjected to 
their corrupting influences. 

XIII. But little pains are taken to secure their attend- 
ance at public worship on Sunda3's. 

XIV. The "house-servants" are rarely present at 
family worship;' the "field-hands," never. 

XV. It is only one h'ere and there who seems to have 
any intelligent views of the nature of Christianity, or of 
a future life. 

XVI. In the Methodist, Baptist, Presbj'terian, and 
Episcopal churches, the colored people, during service, 
sit in a particular part of the house, now generally known 
as the negro peiv. They are not permitted to sit in any 
other, nor to hire or purchase pews as other people, nor 
would they be permitted to sit, even if invited, in the pews 
of white persons. This applies to all colored persons, 



11 

whether members or not, and even to licensed ministers of 
their respective connections. The "negro pew" is ahnost 
as rigidly kept up in the free states as in the slave. 

XVII. In some of the older slave states, as Virginia 
and South Carolina, churches, in ihe'w corporate character, 
hold slaves, who are generally hired out for the support of 
the minister. The following is taken from the Charleston 
Courier of February 12th, 1835. 

Field Negroes, by Thomas Gadsden. 
On Tnesflay, tho 17th instant, will be sold, at the north of the 
Exchango. at ten o'clock, a prime gang often nkokoes. accustomed 
to the culture of cotton and provisions, belonging to the Indepen- 
dent Church, in Christ's Church Parish. . . Feb. 6. 

XVIII. Nor are instances wanting in wdiich negroes 
are bequeathed for the benefit of the Indians, as the fol- 
lowing Chancery notice, taken from a Savannah (Geo.) 
paper will show. 

^"^ Bryan Superior Court. 
Between John J. Maxwell and others. Executors of "^ 

Ann Pray, complainants, and L IN 

Mary Sleijjh and others, Dnvisecs and Legatees, under C equity. 
the will of Ann Pray, defendants. ^ 

"A Bill having been filnd for the distribution of the estate of 
the Testatrix, Ann Pray, and it appearing that among other lega- 
cies in her will, is the followine:, viz., a legacy of one fourth of 
certain negro slaves to the American Board of Commissioners for 
Domestic [Foreign it probably should have been] Missions, for 
the purpose of sending the gospel to the heathen, and particularly 
to the Indians of this continent. It is on motion of the solicitors 
of the complainants ordered, that all persons claiming the said 
legacy, do appear and answer the bill of the complainants, within 
four months from this day. And it is ordered that this order be 
published in a public Gazette of the city of Savannah, and in one 
of the Gazettes of Philadelphia, once a month for four months. 
"Extract from the minutes, Dec. 2nd, 1832. 
•'John Smith, c. s. c. b. c." — (The bequest was not accepted.) 

INFLUENCES UNDER WHICH THE AMERICAN 
CHURCHES HAVE BEEN BROUGHT. 

Charleston [City] Gazette. — " We protest as:aint the assumption 
— the unwarrantable assumption — thatslavery is ultimately to be 
extirpated from the Southern states. Ultimate abolitionists are 
enemies of the South, the same in kind, and only less in degree, 
than immediate abolitionists." 

Washington {City) Telegraph. — " As a man, a Christian, and a 
citizen, we believe that slavery is right ; that the condition of the ^ 
slaveholding states is the best existing organization of civil 
society." 



12 

Chancellor Harper, of South Carolina. — *'It is the order of 
nature, and of GOD, that theheing of superior faculties and knowl- 
edge, and therefore of superior power, should control and dispose 
of those who are inferior. It is as much in the order of nature 
that men should enslave each other, as that other animals should 
prey upon each other." 

Columbia (S. C) Telescope. — "Let us declare, through the pub- 
lic journals of our country, that the question of slavery is not, and 
shall not be open to discussion ; that the system is deep-rooted 
among us, and must remain forever ; that the very moment any 
private individual attempts to lecture upon its evils and immoral- 
ity, and the necessity of putting means in operation to secure us 
from them, in the same moment his tongue shall be cut out and 
cast upon a dunghill." 

Augusta (Geo.) Chronicle. — " He [Amos Dresser] should have 
been hung up as high as Haman, to rot uj)on the gibbet, until the 
wind whistled through his bones. The cry of the whole South 
should be death, instant death, to the abolitionist, wherever 
he is caught." 

[Amos Dresser, now a missionary in Jamaica, was a 
theological student at Lane Seminary, near Cincinnati. 
In the vacation (August, 1835) he undertook to sell.Bibles 
in the state of Tennessee, with a view to raise means 
further to continue his studies. Whilst there, he fell 
under suspicion of being an abolitionist, was arrested by 
the Vigilance Committee, whilst attending a religious 
meeting in the neighborhood of Nashville, the capital of 
the state, and after an afternoon and evening's inquisition 
condemned to receive twenty lashes on his naked body. 
The sentence was executed on him, between eleven and 
twelve o'clock on Saturda}^ night, in the presence of most 
of the committee, and of an infuriated and blaspheming 
mob. The Vigilance Committee (an unlawful association) 
consisted of sixty persons. Of these, twenty-seven were 
members of churches ; one, a religious teacher, another, 
the elder, who but a few days before, in the Presbyterian 
church, handed Mr. Dresser the bread and wine at the 
communion of the Lord's Supper.] 

In the latter part of the summer of 1835, the slave- 
holders generally became alarmed at the progress of the 
abolitionists. Meetings were held throughout the South 
to excite all classes of people to the requisite degree of 
exasperation against them. At one of these meetings, 
held at Clinton, Mississippi, it was 



13 



Resolved, - 



"That slavery through the South and West is not felt as an 
evil, moral or political, but it is recognized in reference to the 
actual, and not to any Utopian condition of our slaves, as a bless- 
ing, both to master and slave." 

Resolved, — 

<' That it is our decided opinion, that any individual who dares 
to circulate, with a view to effectuate the designs of the abolition- 
ists, any of the incendiary tracts or newspapers now in a course 
of transmission to this country, is justly worthy, in the sight of 
God and man, of immediate death ; and we doubt not that such 
would be the punishment of any such offender in any part of the 
state of Mississippi where he may be found." 

Resolved, — 

" That we recommend to the citizens of Mississippi, to encour- 
age the cause of the American Colonization Society, so long as in 
good faith it concentrates its energies alone on the removal of the 
free people of color out of the United States." 

Resolved, — 

" That the clergy of the state of Mississippi be hereby recom- 
mended at once to take a stand upon this subject, and that their 
further silence in relation thereto, at this crisis, will, in our opin- 
ion, be subject to serious censure." 

At Charleston, South Carolina, the post-office was 
forced, the Anti-Slavery publications, which were there 
for distribution or further transmission to onasters, taken 
out and made a bonfire of in the street, by a mob of 
several thousand people. 

A public meeting was appointed to be held a few daj^s 
afterward to complete, in the same spirit in which they 
were commenced, preparations for excluding Anti-Slavery 
publications from circulation, and for ferreting out per- 
sons suspected of favoring the doctrines of the abolition- 
ists, that they might be subjected to lynch law. At this 
assembly the Charleston Courier informs us, — 

"The Clergy of all denominations attended in a body, lending 
their sanction to the proceedings, and adding by their presence 
to the impressive character of the scene." 

It was there resolved, — 

"That the thanks of this meeting are due to the Reverend gentle- 
men of the clergy in this city, who have so promptly and so effectu- 
ally responded to public sentiment, by suspending their schools in [^ 
which thefree colored population were taught; and that this meeting . 



14 

deem it a patriotic action, worthy of all praise, and proper to bo 
imitated by otber teachers of similar schools throughout the state." 

The alarm of the Virginia slaveholders was not less — 
nor were the clergj^ in the city of Richmond, the capital, 
less prompt than the clergy in Charleston to respond to 
"public sentiment." Accordingl}^, on the 29th of Jul}^ 
they assembled together, and 

Resolved, unanimously ^ — 

"That we earnestly deprecate the unwarrantable and highly 
improper interference of the people of any other state with the 
domestic relations of master and slave. 

"That the example of our Lord Jesus Christ and his apostles, 
in not interfering with the question of slavery, but uniformly 
recognizinp: the relations of master and servant, and giving full 
and affi-ctionate instruction to both, is worthy of the imitation of 
all ministers of the gospel. 

" That we will not patronize nor receive any pamphlet or news- 
paper of the A nti-Slavt-ry Societies, and that we will discounte- 
nance the circulation of all such papers in the community. 

" That the susfiicions which have prevailed to a considerable 
extent against ministers of the gospel and professors of religion in 
the state of Virginia, as identitied with abolitionists, nre 10 holly 
unmerHed — believing as we do, from extensive acquaintance with 
our churches and brethren, that they are unanimous in opposing 
the pernicious schemes of abolitionists." 

THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

700,000 Members. 

In 1780, four 3'ears before the Episcopal Methodist 
Church was regularly organized in the United States, the 
conference bore the following testimony against slavery : 

"The conference acknowledges that slavery is contrary to the 
laws of God. man, and nature, and hurtful to society; contrary to 
the dictates of conscience and true religion, and doing what we 
would not others should do unto us." 

In 1784, when the church was fully organized, rules 
were adopted, prescribing the times at which members, 
who were already slaveholders, should emancipate their 
slaves. These rules were succeeded by the following: 

"Every person concerned, who will not comjtly with these 
rules, shall have liberty quietly to withdraw from our society 
within the twelve months foilowins: the notice heing given him as 
aforesaid ; otherwise the assistants shall exclude him the society. 

"No person holding slaves shall in future be admitted into 
society, or to the Lord's Supper, till he previously comply with 
these rules concerning slavery. 



15 

"Those who buy, sell, or give [slaves] away, unless on purpose 
to free them, shall be expelled immediately." 

In 1785 the following language was held : — 

" We do hold in the de(^pest abhorrence the practice of slavery, 

and shall notecase to seek its destruction by all wise and prudent 

means." 

In 1801:— 

" We declare that we are more than ever convinced of the great 
evil of African slavery, which still exists in these United States." 

"Every member of the society who sells a slave shall, imme- 
diately alter full proof, be excluded i'rom the society, &c." 

" The Annual Conferences are directed to dr^w up addresses for 
the gradual emancipation of the slaves to the legislature." "Proper 
committees shall be appointed by the Annual Cc^nferences, out of 
the most respectable of our friends, for the conducting of the 
business ; and tne presiding elders, deacons, and travelling 
preachers, shall procure as many proper signatures as possible to 
the addresses, and give all the assistance in their power, in every 
respect to aid the committees, and to further the blessed under- 
taking. L'^t this be continued from year to year until the desired 
end be accomplished." 

In 1836 the General Conference met in May, in Cin- 
cinnati, a town of 46,000 inhabitants, and the metropolis 
of the free state of Ohio. An anti-slavery society had 
been formed there a year or two before. A meeting of 
the society was appointed for the evening of the 10th of 
May, to which the abolitionists attending the Conference 
as delegates were invited."^ Of those who attended, two 
of them made remarks suitable to the occasion. On the 
12th of May, Rev. S. G. Roszell presented in the confer- 
ence the following preamble and resolutions : — 

" Whereas great excitement has pervaded this country on the 
subject of modern abolitionism, which is reported to have been 
inci'eased in tiiis city recently by the unjustifiable conduct of 
two members of the General Conference in lecturing ui)On, a'.id 
in favor of that agitating topic; — and whereas, such a course on 
the part of any of its members is calculated to bring upon this 
body the suspicion and distrust of the community, and misrepre- 
sent its sentiments in regard to the point at issue; — and whereas, 
in this aspect of the case, a due regard for its own character, 
as well as a just concern for the interests of the church confided 
to its care, demand a full, decided, and unequivocal expression of 
the views of the General Conference in the juemises." Therefore, 

*Tlie Ilev. Mr. Lovejoy, who was afterwards slain by the mob in defend- 
ing liis press at Alton, Illinois, was present at the meeting. He was on his 
way Irom St. Louis, where lie then resided, to Pittsburg, to attend the GeU' 
eral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church. 



16 

1. Resolved, — 

"B}^ the delegates of the Annual Conference in General Con- 
ference assembled, that they disapprove in the most unqualified 
sense, the conduct of the two members of the General Conference 
who are reported to have lectured in this city recently, upon, and 
in favor of, modern abolitionism." 

2. Eesolved, — 

"By the delegates of the Annual Conferences in General Con- 
ference assembled, — that they are decidedly ojtposed to modern 
abolitionism, and whollj- disclaim any right, wish, or intention 
to interfere in the civil and political relation between master and 
slave as it exists in the slave-holding states of this Union." 

The preamble and resolutions were adopted, — the first 
resolution by 122 to 11, the last by 120 to 14 

An address was received from the Methodist Wesleyan 
Conference in England in which the anti-Christian char- 
acter of slavery, and the duty of the Methodist church 
was plainly, j^et tenderly and affectionately, presented for 
its consideration. The Conference refused to publish it. 

In the Pastoral Address to the churches are these 
passages : 

*'It cannot be unknown to jou that the question of slavery in 
the United States, by the constitutional compact which binds us 
together as a nation, is left to be regulated by the several state 
legislatures themselves, and thereby is put beyond the control of 
the general government as well as that of all ecclesiastical bodies, 
it being manifest that in the slave-holding states themselves the 
entire responsibility of its existence or non-existence rests with 

those state legislatures These facts, which are 

only mentioned here as a reason for the friendly admonition 
which we wish to give you. constrain us as your pastors who are 
called to watch over your souls as they must give account, to 
exhort you to abstain from all abolition movements and associa- 
tions, and to refrain from patronizing any of their publications," 
&c. . . "From ever}^ view of the subject which we have been 
able to take, and from the most calm and dispassionate survey of 
the whole ground, we have come to the conclusion that the only 
safe, scriptural, and prudent way for us, both as ministers and peo- 
ple, to take, is, wholly to refrain from this agitating subject," &c. 

The temper exhibited by the general conference was 
warmly sympathized in by many of the local conferences, 
not only in the slave states but in the free. 

The Ohio Annual Conference had a short time before 

Resolved, — 

"1. That we deeply regret the proceedings of the abolitionists 



17 

and Anti-Slavery Societies in the free states, and the consequent 
excitement produced thereby in the shive states; that we, as a 
Conference, disclaim all connection and cooperation with or be- 
lief in the same; and that we hereby recommend to our junior 
preachers, local brethren, and private members within our 
bounds to abstain from any connection with them, or participa- 
tion of their acts in the premises whatever." 

Besolved, — 

" 2. That those brethren and citizens of the North who resist 
the abolition movements with firmness and moderation, are the 
true friends to the church, to the slaves of the South, and to the 
constitution of our common country," &c. 

The New York Annual Conference met in June, 18863 
and 

Resolved, — 

*' 1. That this conference fully concur in the advice of the late 
General Conference, as expressed in their Pastoral Address." 

Resolved, — 

" 2. That we disapprove of the members of this conference pat- 
ronizing or in any way giving countenance to a paper called 
<Zion's Watchman,'* because in our opinion it tends to disturb 
the peace and harmony of the body by sowing dissensions in the 
church." 

Resolved, — 

" 3. That although we could not condemn any man or with- 
hold our suffrages from him on account of his opinions merely, in 
reference to the subject of abolitionism, yet we are decidedly of 
the opinion that none ought to be elected to the oflSce of a deacon 
or elder in our church, unless he give a pledge to the conference 
that he will refrain from agitating the church with discus- 
sions on this subject, and the more especially as the one promises 
' reverently to obey them to whom the charge and government 
over him is committed, following with a glad mind and will, 
their godly admonitions:' and the other with equal solemnity, 
promises to ' maintain and set forward as much as lieth in him, 
quietness, peace, and love among all Christian people, and es- 
pecially among them that are, or shall be committed to his 
charge.' " 

In 1838 the same Conference, Resolved, — 
"As the sense of this conference, that any of its members or 
probationers, who shall patronize Zion's Watchman, either by 
writing in commendation of its character, by circulating it, re- 
commending it to our people, or procuring subscribers, or by col- 
lecting or remitting monies, shall be deemed guilty of indiscre- 
tion, and dealt with accordingly." 

*Zion's Watchman is a newspaper devoted to the auti-slavery cause and 
the religious interests of the Methodist Episcopal church. It is edited by 
the Bev. La Roy Sunderland, 



18 

The preachers — judging by the vote on the anti-aboli- 
tion resolutions — were expected of course to conform to 
the advice in the pastoral address. The New York Con- 
ference, the most influential, set the example of exacting 
a pledge from the candidates for orders that they would 
not agitate the subject of slavery in their congregations. 
The official newspapers of the connection w^ould, of course, 
be silent. Therefore, as a measure for wholly excluding 
the slavery question from the church, it was of the last 
importance that Zion's Watchman, an ?(?iofficial paper, 
and earnest in the anti-slavery cause, should be prevented 
from circulating among the members. 

Having seen in what spirit the conferences of the free 
states were w^illing to act, w^e will now see what was the 
temper of the conferences in the slave states. They were 
not under the same necessity as the free state conferen- 
ces, of guarding against agitationhy candidates for orders 
— for in the slave states they are comparatively few, and 
being brought up under the influences of slavery, are con- 
sidered soiind on that subject. The point of most inter- 
est to the slaveholding professors of religion was to steel 
their own consciences. 

The JBaltimore Conference resolved : 

"That in all cases of administration under the general rule in 
reference to buying and [or] selling men, women, and children, 
&c., it be, and hereby is recommended to all committees, as the 
sense and opinion of this conference, that the said rule be taken, 
construed, and understood, so as not to make the guilt or inno- 
cence of the accused to depend upon the simple fact of purchase 
or sale of any such slave or slaves, but upon the attendant 
circumstances of cruelty, injustice, or inhumanity on the one 
hand, or those of kind purposes or good intentions, on the other, 
under which the transactions shall have been perpetrated; and 
farther, it is recommended that in all such cases the charge be 
brought for immorality, and the circumstances adduced as speci- 
fications under that charge." 

THE GEOKGIA ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 

Eesolved unanimously that : 

" Whereas, there is a clause in the discipline of our church, 
which states that we are as much as ever convinced of the great 
evil of slavery ; and whereas the said clause has been pey^vei'ted 
by some, and used in such a manner as to produce the impression 
that the Methodist Episcopal church believed slavery to be a 
moral evil,^' 



19 

Therefore, Resolved, — 

**That it is the sense of the Georgia Annual Conference that 
slavery, as it exists in the United States, is not a moral eviL." 

Eesolved, — 

"That we view slavery as a civil and domestic institution, and 
one with which, as ministers of Christ, we have nothing to do, 
further than to ameliorate the condition of the slave by endeav- 
oring to impart to him and his master the benign influences ©f 
the religion of Christ, and aiding both on their way to Heaven." 

On the motion it was resolved unanimously, — 
"That the Georgia Annual Conference regard with feelings of 
profound respect and approbation, the dignified course pursued 
by our several supermtejidents or bishops i7i suppressing the at- 
tempts that have been made by various individuals to get up and 
protract an excitement in the churches and country on the subject 
of abolitionism. 

Eesolved, further, — 

"That they shall have our cordial and zealous support in sus- 
taining them in the ground they have taken." 

SOUTH CAEOLINA CONFERENCE. 

The Eev. W. Martin introduced resolutions similar to 
those of the Georgia conference. 

The Rev. W. Capers, D. D., after expressing his con- 
viction that " the sentiment of the resolutions was univer- 
sally held, not only by the ministers of that conference, 
hut of the whole South ; " and after stating that the only 
true doctrine was, "it belongs to Caesar, and not to the 
church," offered the following as a substitute : 

"Whereas, we hold that the subject of slavery in these United 
States is not one proper for the action of the church, but is exclu- 
sively appropriate to the civil authorities," 

Therefore, Resolved, — 

"That this conference will not intermeddle with it, farther 
than to express our regret that it has ever been introduced in any 
form into any one of the judicatures of the church. 

" Brother Martin accepted the substitute. 

" Brother Betts asked whether the substitute was intended as 
implying that slavery as it exists among us was not a moral evil ? 
He tinderstood it as equivalent to such a decla.ration. 

" Brother Capers explained thai his intention was to convey 
that seyitijnent fully and unequivocally ; and that he had chosen 
the form of the substitute Hot ihe \)\xv\iOiQ, not only of reproving 
some wrong doings at the North, but with reference also to the 
general conference. If slavery were a tnoral evil (that is sinful), 
the church would he hound to take cognizance of it; but our affir- 



20 

mation is that it is not a matter for A«r jurisdiction, but is exclu- 
sively appropriate to the civil government, and of course not sin- 
ful. 

" The substitute was then unanimously adopted." 

SENTIMEN'TS OF NOK-SLAVEHOLDING 
METHODIST MINISTEES. 
Eev. N. Bangs, T>. D,, of New York : 
" It appears evident that however much the apostles might 
have deprecated slavery as it then existed throughout the Ko- 
man empire, he did not feel it his dutj', as an ambassador of 
Christ, to disturb those relations which subsisted between master 
and servants, by denouncing shivery as such a mortal sin that 
they could not be servants of Christ in such a relation." 

Rev. E. D. Simras, Professor in Randolph Macon Col- 
lege, a Methodist institution : 

" These extracts from holy writ unequivocally assert the 
RIGHT OF property IN SLAVES, together with the usual incidents 
of that right; such as the power of acquisition and disposition in 
various ways, according to municipal regulations. The right to 
buy and sell, and to transmit to children by way of inheritance, 
is clearly stated. The only restriction on the subject is in refer- 
ence to the market in which slaves or bondsmen were to be pur- 
chased. 

" Upon the whole, then, whether we consult the Jewish polity, 
instituted by God himself, or the uniform opinion and practice of 
mankind in all ages of the world, or the injunctions of the New 
Testament and the Moral Law, we are brought to the conclusion 
that slavery is not immoral. 

"Having established the point that the first African slaves 
were legally brought into bondage, the right to detain their chil- 
dren in bondage follows as an indispensable consequence. 

"Thus we see that the slavery which exists in America, was 
founded in right. ^^ 

The Eev. Wilbur Fisk, D. D., late President of the 
[Methodist] Wesleyan University in Connecticut : 

" The relation of master and slave may, and does, in many cases, 
exist under such circumstances, as free the master from the just 
charge and guilt of immorality. 

" 1 Cor. vii. 20-23. 

"This text seems mainly to enjoin and' sanction ihe fitting con- 
tinuance of their present social relations : the freeman was to re- 
main free, and the slave, unless emancipation should offer, loas to 
remain a slave. 

" The general rule of Christianity not only permits, hut hi sup- 
posable circumstances, enjoins a continuance of the master's 
authority. 

" The New Testament enjoins obedience upon the slave as an 
obligation due to a present rightful authority." 



21 

Rev. Elijah Hedding, D. D., one of the six Methodist 
bishops : 

" The right to hold a slave is founded on this rule, ' Therefore, 
all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye 
even so to them : for this is the law and the prophets.' " — Ch. Ad. 
and Journal, Oct. 20, 1807. 

SENTIMENTS OF SLAYEHOLDING METHO- 
DIST MINISTERS. 
The Rev. William Winans, of Mississippi, in the Gene- 
ral Conference, in 1836 : ' 

" He was not born in a slave state — he was a Pennsylvanian by 
birth. He had been brought up to believe a slaveholder as great 
. a villain as a horse-thief; but he had gone to the South, and long 
residence there had changed his views ; he had become a slave- 
holder on principle.'" .... "Though a slaveholder him- 
self, no abolitionist felt more sympathy for the slave than he did ; 
none had rejoiced more in the hope of a coming period, when the 
print of a slave's foot would not be seen on the soil." . , . "It 
was important to the interests of slaves, and in view of the ques- 
tion of slavery, that there be Christians who were slaveholders. 
Christian ministers should be slaveholders, and diffused through- 
out the South. Yes, sir, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, 
should be slaveholders. Yes, he repeated it boldly, there should 
be members, and deacons, and elders, and BISHOPS, too, who 
were slaveholders." 

The Rev. J. Early, of Virginia, on the same occasion : 
" Sir : We have no energi/. But if a majority of this conference 
have no energy, not enough of it4o protect their own honor from 
insult and degradation, be it known, that there are in the confer- 
ence those who have, and who ought to be by themselves. 
It is full time for you, sir, to speak out, to testify that you have 
some regard for yourselves — to say that you have some regard for 
your honor. Submit to this, sir! If we submit to this, v/e are 
prepared to submit to anything." 

The Rev. J. H. Thornwell, at a public meeting held in 
South Oarolinaj supported the following resolutions : 

" That slavery, as it exists in the South, is no evil, and is con- 
sistent v/ith the principles of revealed religion ; and that all oppo- 
sition to it arises from a misguided and fiendish fanaticism, which 
we are bound to resist in the very threshold. 

" That all interference with this subject by fanatics is a viola- 
tion of our civil and social rights, is unchristian and inhuman, 
leading necessarily to anarchy and bloodshed ; and that the insti- 
gators are murderers and assassins. 

"That any interference with this subject, on the part of con- 
gress, must lead to a dissolution of the Union." 



22 

The Rev. George W. Langhorne, of North Carolina, 
thus writes to the editor of Zion's Watchman, under date, 
June 25th, 1836. 

"I, sir, would as soon be found in the ranks of a banditti, as 
numbered with Arthur Tappan and his wanton coadjutors. 
Nothing is more appalling to my feelings as a man, contrary to 
my principles as a Christian, and repugnant to my soul as a 
minister, than the insidious proceedings of such men, 

"If you have not resigned your credentials as a minister of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, I really think that, as an honest man, 
you should now do it. In your ordination vows you solemnly 
promised to be obedient to those who have rule over you ; and 
since they [the General Conference] have spoken, and that dis- 
tinctly, too, on this subject, and disapprobate your conduct, I con- 
ceive you are bound to submit to their authority or leave the 
church." 

The Eev. J. C. Postell, in July, 1836, delivered an 
address at a public meeting at Orangeburgh Court-house, 
S. C, in which he maintains ; 1. That slavery is a judi- 
cial visitation. 2. That it is not a moral evil. 3. That 
it is supported by the Bible. He thus argues his second 
point : 

" It is not a moral evil. The fact that slavery is of Divine 
appointment would be proof enough, with the Christian, that it 
could not be a moral evil. But when we view the hordes of savage 
marauders and human cannibals enslaved to lust and passion, and 
abandoned to idolatry and iajnorance, to revolutionize them from 
such a state, and enslave them where they may have the gospel, 
and the privileges of Christians, so far from being a moral evil, 
it is a merciful visitation. If slavery was either the invention of 
man or a moral evil, it is logical to conclude, the power to create 
has the power to destroy. Why, then, has it existed? And why 
does it now exist amidst all the power of legislation in state and 
church, and the clamor of abolitionists ? It is the Lord's doings, 
AND MARVELLOUS IN OUR EYES, and had it not been done for the 
best, God alone, who is able, long since would have overruled it. 
It is by divine appointment." 

On that occasion the same Rev. gentleman read a letter 
which he had addressed to the editor of Zion's Watch- 
man, of which the following are extracts : 

" To La Roy Sunderland, &g. 

"Did you calculate to misrepresent the Methodist Discipline, and 
say it supported abolitionism, when the General Conference, in 
their late resolutions, denounced it as a libel on truth? ' Oh full 
of all subtlety, thou child of the devil !' all liars, saith the sacred 
volume, shall have their part in the lake of tire and brimstone. 

" I can only give one reason why you have not been indicted for 
a libel. The law says, ♦ The greater the truth, the greater the 



.23 

libel ;' and as your paper has no such ingredient, it is construed 
but a small matter. But if you desire to educate the slaves, I will 
tell you how to raise the money without editing Zion's Watch- 
man ; you and old Arthur Tappan come out to the South this 
winter, and they will raise one hundred thousand dollars for you. 
New Orleans itself will be pledged for it. Desiring no further 
acquaintance wi.h you, and never expecting to see you but once 
in time or eternity, that is at judgment, I subscribe myself, the 
friend of the Bible, and the opposer of abolitionists. 

"J. C. POSTELL, 

"Orangeburgh, July 21st, 1836." 
THE GENERAL CONFEREN'CE FOR 1840, 

HELD ITS SESSION" IN MAY, IN BALTIMORE. 

The Rev. Silas Comfort appealed from a decision of the 
Missouri conference, of which he was a member. That 
conference had convicted him of '^raal-administration/' in 
admitting the testimony of a colored person in the trial of 
a white member of the church. The General Conference 
reversed the decision of the Missouri conference. The 
Southern delegates insisted on something being done to 
counteract the injurious influence which the reversal would 
have on the Methodist church in the slave states. 

The Rev. Dr. A. J. Few, of Georgia, proposed the 
following: 

Resolved, — 

" That it is inexpedient and unjustifiable for any preacher to 
permit colored persons to give testimony against white persons, in 
any state where they are denied that privilege by law." 

This was carried, but it was at variance with the deci- 
sion in Comfort's case. The Conference saw the absurdity 
of their position, and that something must be done to 
shift it. To this end, it was thought best to attempt 
getting rid of the whole subject. A motion was made to 
reconsider the decision in Comfort's case, with a view, if 
it should be carried, to another, not to entertain his appeal. 
Should this latter prevail, a motion was then to follow, to 
reconsider Dr. Few's resolution. If this should be carried, 
by another motion it could be laid on the table and kept 
there. In this way the whole matter might be excluded. 

The motion to reconsider the reversal in Comfort's case 
was carried. So was the motion, not to entertain his 



24 

appeal. . But the motion to reconsider Dr. Few^s resolu- 
tion failed. Pending the debate on it, one of the Southern 
delegates, 

Kev. William A. Smith, of Virginia, [the same who, 
in the General Conference of 1836, publicly wished the 
E-ev. Orange Scott, a leading abolitionist, also of the 
General Conference, "in heaven 5"] becoming alarmed, 
lest the resolution should be reconsidered and consigned 
to the table, offered the following compromise as a sub- 
stitute : 

Resolved, — 

"That the resolution offered by A. J. Few, and adopted on 
Monday, the 18th instant, relating to the testimony of persons of 
color, be reconsidered and amended so as to read as follows, viz.: 
^ Thai \i h inexi^edient a7id unjustifiable for any j^reacher among 
us to admit of persons of color to give testimony on the trial of 
white persons in any slaveholding state where they are denied that 
pi'ivilege in trials at law. Provided, that when an annual confer- 
ence in any such state or territory shall judge it expedient to 
admit of the introduction of such testimony within its bounds, it 
shall be allowed so to do.' " 

However, the Southern delegates being unanimous 
(with the single exception of the Rev. mover), and hav- 
ing the aid of some of the most devoted of the pro-slavery 
Northern delegates, the substitute was lost by an even 
vote. 

The efforts made to " harmonize" the slaveholding and 
the non-slaveholding delegates, had thus far failed. It 
was not, however, abandoned. With that view, Bishop 
Soule, acting as the representative of the other bishops, 
introduced three resolutions. We have not been able to 
procure a copy of them. In Zion's Watchman, we find 
them substantially stated thus : 

1. "The action of the General Conference in the Comfort case 
was not intended to express or imply that it was either expedient 
or justifiable to admit the testimony of colored persons in states 
where such testimony is rejected by the civil authorities. 

2. " It was not intended, by the adoption of Dr. Few's resolu- 
tion, to prohibit the admission of it when the civil authorities or 
usage authorizes its admission* 

3. '■'■Expresses the undiminished regard of the General Confer- 
ence for the colored population.''^ 

Immediately on the passage of Dr. Few's resolution, 
the " official members (forty-six in number) of the Sharp 



I 



25 

Street and Asbury Colored Methodist Episcopal Clinrcli 
in Baltimore," protested and petitioned against it. The 
following passages are in their address : 

"The adoption of such a resolution by our highest ecclesiasti- 
cal judicatory, a judicatory composed of the most experienced 
and wisest brethren in the church, the choice selection of twenty- 
eight annual conferences, has inflicted, we fear, an irreparable in- 
jury upon eighty thousand souls for whom Christ died — souls, who 
by this act of your body, have been stript of the dignity of Chris- 
tians, degraded in the scale of humanity, and treated as criminals 
for no other reason than the color of their skin ! Your resolution 
has, in our humble opinion, viriually declared that a mere physi- 
cal peculiarity, the luindy work of our all-wise and benevolent 
Creator, \s, prima facie evidence of incompetency to tell the truth, 
oris an unerring indication of unworthiness to bear testimony 
against a fellow-being whose skin is denominated white. . . . 

" Brethren, out of the abundance of the heart we have spoken. 
Our grievance is before yon. ! If you have any regard for the sal- 
vation of the eighty thousand immortal souls committed to your 
■care; if you would not thrust beyond the pale of the church, 
twenty-Jive hundred souls in this city, who have felt determined 
never to leave the church that has nourished and brought them 
up ; if you regard us as children of one common Father, and can, 
upon reflection, sympathize with us as members of the body of 
Christ — if you weuld not incur the fearful, the tremendous re- 
sponsibility of offending not only one, but many thousands of his 
* little ones;' we conjure you to wipe from your journal, the 
odious resolution whicli is ruining oar people." 

"A Colored Baltimorean," writing to the editor of 
Zion's Watchman, says : 

" The address was presented to one of the secretaries, a delegate 
of the Baltimore conference, and subsequently given by him to 
the bishops. How many of the members of the conference saw 
it, I know not. One thing is certain, it was not read to the con' 
ference.^^ 

SENTIMENTS EXPRESSED DUEING THE 
DEBATES. 

Rev. W. Capers, D. D., of Charleston, S. Carolina, 
"Valued the quotations which had been made from the early 
disciplines and minutes; there was no kind of property that he 
valued so high as the works which contained them ; they were 
the monuments of that primitive Methodism which he loved. ♦ 
He then read from the minutes of 1780, '84, and '85, and at* 
tempted to show from the smallness of the church, and the little 
connexion that it had with slavery in 1781), that it adopted the 
language which was precisely consistent with its circumstances, 
and just such language as he would adopt under similar circum- 



26 

stances; but in 1784 and '85, when the church had extended fur- 
ther, and became more entangled with slavery, there was a cor- 
responding faltering in the language of the church against it. 
But in 18u0 the church fell into a great error on this subject — an 
error whicli he had no doubt those who were so unfortunate as to 
fall into, very deeply deplored. The conference authorized ad- 
dresses to the legislatures, and memorials to be circulated by all 
our ministers, and instructed them to continue those measures 
from year to year, till slavery was abolished. He had no doubt 
that the men engaged in this work were sincere and pious, but 
they soon perceived that it was a great error, and abandoned it. 
. . He thanked the brother from Canada (Rev. Egerton Ryer- 
son), for the strong sympathy he had expressed for Southern in- 
stitutions. . . i»Jotwithstanding the representations that a part 
of the discipline was a dead letter in the South, yet he assured 
them that they received the whole of it — they were under the 
whole of it — acknowledged it all.— but, said he, you must take 
heed what discipline you make for us now; if the chapter on 
slavery had not long been in the discipline, you could not put it 
there now. I repeat, therefore, you must bewar'e what laws you 
make for us ! You may easily adopt such measures as will effect- 
ually hedge up our way, and make us slaves. We cannot be 
made slaves; beware, therefore, I say, what discipline you give 
us! Be CAUTIOUS what burthens you impose upon us! We 
know what our work is, — it is to preach and pray for the slaves." 

Kev. Mr. Crowder of Virginia : 

"In its civil aspect, neither the general government, or any 
other government, ecclesiastical or civil, either directly or indi- 
rectly, has a right to ^omcA slavery." In its ecclesiastical aspect, 
"we are bound by the twenty-third article of our religion to sub- 
mit to the civil regulations of the state under which we live." In 
its moral aspect, "Slavery was not only countenanced, permitted, 
and regulated by the Bible, but it was positively instituted by 
God himself — he had in so many words enjoined it." 

The Rev. Joshua Soule, D. D., of Ohio (one of the 
bishops), in advocating the reconsideration of the de- 
cision in Comfort's case, said : 

" It will be recollected by brethren that the Missouri confer- 
ence fixed no censure — not a particle of censure upon the charac- 
ter of Silas Comfort; the law, therefore, would not justify an 
appeal to this body. If that unfortunate word 'ynal-adyyiinistra- 
tion,^ had not been used in connection with the case, it would 
never have found its way here." "I do not express merely my 
own opinion in this case; it is the united opinion of your super- 
intendents (bishops), and it is by their request that I address you 
on this occasion." 

Rev. Mr. Peck, of New York, who moved the recon- 
sideration of Dr. Few's resolution : 

«' That resolution, said he, was introduced under peculiar cir- 



2T 

cumstances, during considerable excitement, and he went for it 
as a peace-oiFering to the South, without suflEiciently reflecting 
upon the precise import of its phraseology ; but after a little de- 
liberation, he was sorry, and he had been sorry but once, and 
that was all the time; he was convinced that, if that resolutfon 
remain upon the journal, it would be disastrous to the whole North- 
er7i cliurchy 

Eev. Dr. A. J. Few of Georgia, the mover of the origi- 
nal resolution : 

"Look at it! What do you declare to us in taking this 
course ? "Why, simply as much as to say, '■ we cannot sustain 
you in the condition which you cannot avoid! ' We cannot sus- 
tain you in the necessary conditions of slaveholding; one of its nec- 
essary conditions being the rejection of negro testimony. If it is 
not sinful to hold slaves under all circumstances, it is not sinful 
to hold them in the only condition, and under the only circum- 
stances, which they can be held. The rejection of nf^gro testi- 
mony is one of the necessary circumstances under which slave- 
holding can exist; indeed, it is utterly impossible for it to exist 
without it; therefore it is not sinful to hold slaves in the condi- 
tion and under the circumstances which they are held at the 
South, inasmuch as they can be held under no other circum- 
stances. . . If you believe that slaveholding is necessarily 
sinful, come out with the- abolitionists and honestly say so. If 
you believe that slaveholding is necessarily sinful, you believe 
we are necessarily sinners : and, if so, come out and honestly de- 
clare it, and let us leave you. . . We want to know distinctly, 
precisely, and honestly the position which you take. AVe cannot 
be tampered with by you any longer. We have had enough of 
it. We are tired of your sickly sympathies. . . If you are 
not opposed to the principles which it involves, unite with us, 
like honest men, and go home and boldly meet the can sequences. 
We say again, you are responsible for this state of things, for it is 
you who have driven us to the alarming point where we iind our- 
selves. . . Vou have made that resolution absolutely necessary 
. to the quiet of the South ! But you now revoke that resolution ! 
And you pass the Kubicon ! Let me not be misunderstood. I 
say you pass the Rubicon ! If you revoke, you revoke the prin- 
ciple which that resolution involves, and you array the whole 
South against you, ajid ive must separate! . . If you accede to 
the principles which it involves, arising from the necessity of the 
case, stick by it, 'though the heavens perish ! ' But if you per- 
sist on reconsideration, I ask in what light will your course be 
regarded in the South ? What will be the conclusion there, in 
reference to it ? Why, that you cannot sustain us as long as we 
nold slaves ! It will declare"^in the face of the sun, ' we cannot 
sustain you, gentlemen, while you retain your slaves!' Your 
opposition to the resolution is' based upon your opposition to 
slavery ; you cannot, therefore, maintain your consistency, unless 
you come out with the abolitionists, and condemn us at once and 
forever; or else refuse to reconsider." 



28 

The Rev. William Winans of Mississippi (the same 
who was a delegate to the general conference in 1836): 

" lie was never more deeply impressed with the solemnity of 
lii§ situation — the act of this afternoon will determine the fate of 
our beloved Zion ! . , Will you meet us halfway ? Have you 
the magnanimity to consent to a compromise ? I pledge myself, 
in behalf of every Southern man, that if you will affirm the de- 
cision in the case of Silas Comfort, we will give up the resolu- 
tion ; but if you refuse to affirm, and wrest "from us that resolu- 
tion, you stab us to the vitals ! . . Repeal that resolution, and 
you pass the Rubicon ! Dear as union is, sir, there are interests 
at stake in this question which are dearer than union! Do not 
regard us as threatening! . . . But what will become of our 
beloved Methodism? The interests of Methodism throughout 
the whole South are at stake ! We can, however, endure to see 
the houses of God forsaken, and our wide-extended and beautiful 
fields, which we have long been cultivating, laid waste and 
turned into a moral wilderness. But what is to become of the 
poor slave ? I entreat of you to pause ! You effectually shut out 
the consolations and hopes of the gospel from hundreds and 
thousands of poor slaves. . . I call heaven to record against 
you this day, that if you repeal that resolution, you seal the dam- 
nation of thousands of souls! I beseech you as upon my knees 
not to do it." 

The Eev. Mr. Collins, of , 

"Admonished the conference, that the moment they rescinded 
that resolution, they passed the Rubicon. The fate of the con- 
nexion was sealed." 

The Rev. William A. Smith, of Virginia, 
"Agreed with the brother from Mississippi, that there were in- 
terests. involved in this question rfmrer than union itself, how- 
ever dear that might be. Southerners are not prepared to commit 
their interests, much less their consciences, to the holy keeping 
of Northern men. Conaclence was involved in this matter, and 
they could not be coerced." 

Rev. Nathan Bangs, D. D., of New' York : 
" We were on a snag, and he believed he could help us of!'. 
lie perceived a way to get out of the difficulty, and proceeded to 
read three resolutions, one of which went to affirm the decision of 
the Missouri conference in the Comfort case. He concluded with 
a proposition to refer the ichole case to a committee, to see if 
something could not be done to harmonize the conference." 

Rev. P. P. Sanford, of : 

" Brethren spoke as though there were no interests involved in 
this question but Southern and Western, but he could assure breth- 
ren of their entire mistake. The North and East were as deeply 
concerned in the issue of this question as the West and South. . 
He was surprised at the course of Dr. Bangs, who, when the 



29 

Missouri case was pending, retired without the bar, and thus 
dodged the question ; and when Dr. Few's resolution was passed, 
he sat still in his chair, and refused to do his duty, but 7iow he 
comes forward with a series of resolutions entirely inconsistent 
with all the facts in the case, with the very benevolent intention 
to enlighten us on the subject! ! But what does he say? 
Why, he declares that he believes that this conference ought to 
atfirm the decision of the Missouri conference in the case of Silas 
Comfort! And what was that decision? Why, that it is mal- 
administration to admit the testimony of a colored man in the 
trial of a white man! So that Comfort was condemned, as ap- 
pears from the journals of that conference, solely for admitting 
the testimony of a colored man ! And Dr. Bangs is the man who 
declares upon this floor, that that decision ought to be affirmed by 
this conference ! ! He was perfectly as?^ow7«fZ^rZ.' Brethren talk 
of compromise ! Is there any compromise in this ? " 

Bishop Soiile spoke in favor of the compromise resolu- 
tions of the Rev. Mr. Smith : 

" It was in view of the vast but jeoparded interests of our beloved 
Zion : with a view to promote the union of our extended ecclesi- 
astical confederation, that he ventured to speak on the present 
occasion. He would lay one hand upon the ISTorth and East, and 
the other upon the South, and constrain them to harmonize. He 
had listened to the speeches of brethren, and he perceived that the 
waters were troubled, but he was not alarmed; our ship is not 
wrecked, and he had no doubt but that we should bring her safe 

through He had listened to the intimations of the 

possible necessity of adopting this measure, but brethren had 
approached so near together that they only appeared to differ as 
to the modus operandi of doing the thing which all seemed to 
agree should be done. He could not, therefore, believe that breth- 
ren were in earnest in intimating the probability of a division [of 
the church] on ?,otrifling an occasion. He had heard the a])peals 
from brethren of the South with unmingled sympathy, because 
he was acquainted with the South; he was familiar with the 
difficulties which brethren from that region struggled with. . . 
We are in danger of forgetting that men born in the South are 
much better qualified to judge of the bearing which particular 
naeasures will have upon that region than those of the North can 
be. He thanked the brother from Georgia (Dr. Few) for his kind 
allusion to him, and regretted that he was understood to take 
ground against the Dr., for he agreed vnih him entirely. . . The 
brethren from the South came forward with all that frankness 
which characterizes Southern men — I say, with all tliat frankness 
which characterizes Southern men, for this is a distinguishing trait 
in their character — and propose a conciliatory }>lan, which he 
thought could not fail to harmonize the great majority ; 1 say, the 
great majority, for I despair of giving satisfaction to all. . . He 
could not possibly seean objectionable feature in, or any favorable 
effect that would be likely to result from, adopting them, cither 



30 

in the North or South. Does any one think that they may be 
disastrously used in the North, in favor of modern abolitionism ? 
I neither see it nor fear it. Permit me to say to the members of 
this General Conference who are connected with the aboiiLion 
movements, that the brethren at the South are better judges, cir- 
cumstanced as they are, than you can possibly be, in regard to 

every thing connected with slavery Surveying 

the whole ground of this unfortunate affair, and where is the man 
who dare come to the conclusion that sufficient reasons have been 
developed in this controversy for dividing the body of Christ." 

• THE BAPTIST CHUECH. 

(500,000 3[emhers.) 
In 1835, the Charleston Baptist Association addressed 
a memorial to the legislature of South Carolina^ which 
contains the following : 

''The undersigned would further represent, that the said asso- 
ciation does not consider that the holy scriptures have made the 
fact of slavery a question of morals at all. The Divine Author 
of our holy religion, in particular, found slavery a part of the 
existing institutions of society ; with which, if not sinful, it was 
not his design to intermeddLe, but to leave them entirely to the 
control of men. Adopting this, therefore, as one of the allowed 
arrangements of society, he made it the province of his religion 
only to prescribe the reciprocal duties of the relation. The ques- 
tion, it is believed, is purely one of political economy. It amounts, 
in effect, to this: Whether the operatives of a coimtry shall he 
bought and sold, and theinselves become property , as in this state ; 
or whether they shall be hirelings, and their labor only becotne 
property, as in sovie other states. In other words, whether an 
employer may buy the whole time of laborers at once, of those 
who have a right to dispose of it, with a permanent relation of 
protection and care over them, or, whether he shall be restricted 
to buy it in certain portions only, subject to their control, and 
with no such permanent relation of care and protection. The 
right of masters to dispose of the time of their slaves has been dis- 
tinctly recognized by tJie Creator of all things, who is surely at 
liberty to ve&t the right of property over any object in whomso- 
ever He pleases. That the lawful ])Ossessor should retain this 
right at will, is no more against the laws of society and good 
morals, than that he should retain the personal endowments with 
which his Creator has blessed him, or the money and lands inher- 
ited from his ancestors, or acquired by his industry. And neither 
society nor individuals have any more authority to demand a 
relinquishment without an equivalent, in the one case than in 
the other. 

" As it is a question purel3'^of political economy, and one which 
in this country is reserved to the cognizance of the state govern- 
ments severally, it is further believed that the state of South Car- 
olina alone has the right to regulate the existence and condition 



31 

of slavery within her territorial limits; and we should resist to 
the utmost every invasion of this right, come from what quarter 
and under whatever pretence it may." 

In 1835, the following query, referring to slaves, was 
presented to the Savannah River Baptist Association of 
Ministers : 

" Whether, in case of involuntary separation of such a charac- 
ter as to preclude all prospect of future intercourse, the parties 
ought to be allowed to marry again ?"' 

Ansiver, — 

"That such separation among persons situated as our slaves 
are, is civilly a separation by death, and they believe that, in the 
sight of God, it would be so viewed. To forbid second marriages 
in such cases would be to expose the parties, not only to stronger 
hardships and strong temptations, but to church censw^e, for act- 
ing in obedience to their masters, who cannot be expected to ac- 
quiesce in a regulation at variance with justice to the slaves, and 
to the spirit of that command which regulates marriage among 
Christians. The slaves are not free age7its, and a dissolution by 
death is not more entirely without their consent, and beyond 
their control, than- by such separation." 

Sept., 1835. The ministers and messengers of the Gos- 
lien Association, assembled at Free Union, Virginia, state : 

" The most of us have been born and brought up in the midst 
of this population. Very many of us, too, have been ushered 
into life under inauspicious circumstances, having no patrimo- 
nies to boast, and inheriting little else from our parents but 
an existence and a name. We have, however, through the bless- 
ing of God, by a persevering course of industry and rigid econ- 
omy, acquired a competent support for ourselves and families; 
and as a reward for our laborious exertion we received such 7)7-077- 
erty [slaves] as was guaranteed to us not only by the laws of our 
individual states, but by those of the United States. In consid- 
eration whereof we unanimously adopt the following resolutions :" 

1. Resolved, — 

"That we consider our right and title to this property altogeth- 
er legal and bona fide, and that it is a breach of the faith, pledged 
in the federal constitution, for our Northern brethren to try, either 
directly or indirectly, to lessen the value of this property or im- 
pair our title thereto.". 

2. Resolved, — 

" That we view the torch of the incendiary and the dagger of 
the midnight assassin loosely concealed under the specious garb 
of humanity and religion falsely so called." 

3. Resolved, — 

"That we consider there is something radically wrong in the 
logic of those would-be philanthropists at the North, who lay it 



32 

down as one of their main propositions that they must do what 
is right, regardless of consequences, inasmuch as they will not 
venture to come this side of tlie Potomac to teach and lecture 
publicly, where (they say) this crying evil exists." 

SENTIMENTS OF INDIVIDUAL BAPTISTS. 

The late Rev. Lucius Bolles, D. D., of Massachusetts, 
Cor. Sec. Am. Bap. Board for Foreign Missions: 

(1834) " There is a pleasing degree of union among the multi- 
plying thousands of Baptists throughout the land. . . . Our 
Southern brethren are generally, both ministers and people, 
slaveholders." 

Bev. B. Furman, D. D., of South Carolina : 
*' The right of holding slaves is clearly established in the Holy 
Scriptures, both by precept and example." — Exposiiion of the views 
of the Bajotists, addt^ssed to the Governor of S. Carolina, 1833." 

Dr. Furman died not long afterward. His legal repre- 
sentatives thus advertise his property for sale : 

•' Notice. 

"On the first Monday of February next, will be put up ?i.i pub- 
lic auction, before the court house, the folloicing pj^operty , belong- 
ing to the estate of the late Rev. Dr. Furman, viz : 

"A plantation or tract of land on and in the Wataree Swamp. 
A tract of the first quality of fine land, on the waters of Black 
River. A lot of land in the town of Camden. A Library of a 
miscellaneous character, chiefly Theological. 

27 NEGROES, 
Some of them very prime. Two mules, one horse, and an old 
wagon." 

THE PBESBYTEBIAN CHUKCH. 
(350,000 Members.) 

In 1793, the General Assemblj^, not very long after it 
was organized, adopted the "judgment" of the New- 
York and Philadelphia Synods, in favor of "universal 
liberty." In 1794 it adopted the following as a note to 
the eighth commandment, as expressing the doctrine of 
the church on slaveholding : 

*' 1 Tim. i. 10. The law is made for man-stealers. This 
crime among the Jews exposed the perpetrators of it to capital 
punishment; Exodus xxi. 15: and the apostle here classes them 
with sinners of the first rank. The word he uses, in its original 
import, comprehends all who are concerned in bringing any of 
the human race into slaver3% or in retaining them in it. Hominum 
fures, qui servos vel liberos abducunt, retinent, vendunt, vel eniu?it. 
Stealers of men are all those who bring off slaves or freemen, and 
KEEP, sell, or BUY THEM. To steal a freeman, says Grotius, is 
the highest kind of theft. In other instances, we only steal hu- 



33 

man property, but when we steal, or retain men in slavery, we 
seize those who, in common with ourselves, are constituted by the 
original grant lords of the earth." 

But the church contented itself witli recording its doc- 
trine. No rules of discipline were enforced. The slave- 
holders remained in the church, adding slave to slave, 
unmolested ; not only unmolested, but bearing tlie offices 
of the church. In 1816 the General Assembly, \Yhile it 
called slavery " a mournful evil," directed the erasure 
of the note to the eighth commandment. In 1818, it 
adopted an "expression of views," in which slaverj^ is 
called " a gross violation of the most precious and sacred 
rights of human nature," but instead of requiring the 
instant abandonment of this " violatio7i of rights," the 
Assembly exhorts the violators "to continue and increase 
their exertions to effect a total abolition of slavery, wiUi 
no greater delay than a regard to the public welfare de- 
mcinds ;''^ and recommends that if a " Christian professor 
sliall sell a slave who is also in communion with our 
churcli," without the consent of the slave, the seller should 
be " suspended till he should repent and make reparcdiony 

The reality of slavery in the Presbyterian church, since 
1S18, ma}'' be known from the following testimonies : 

The Kev. James Smylie, A. M., of the Amite Presby- 
terj^, Mississippi, in a pamphlet published by him a short 
time ago in favor of American slavery, saj^s : 

" If slavery be a sin, and advertising and apprehending slaves, 
with a view to restore them to their masters, is a direct viohition 
of the Divine law, and \i the buying, selling, or holding a slave 
FOR THE SAKK OF GAIN, is a hcinous sin and scandal, then, verily, 

THREE-FOURTHS OF ALL THE EPISCOPALIANS, MeTHODISTS, 

Baptists, and Presbyterians in eleven States of the 
Union, are of the devil. They ' hold,' if they do not buj^ and 
sell slaves, and, xoith few exceptions, they hesitate not to 'appre- 
hend and restore' runaway slaves, when in their power." 

In 1831- the Sj^nod of Kentucky appointed a committee 
of twelve to report on the condition, &c., of the slaves. 
This passage occurs in the report : 

" Brutal stripes and all the various kinds of personal indignities 
are not the only species of cruelty which shivery licenses The law 
does not recognise the family relations of the slave, and extends to 
him no protection in the enjoyment of domestic endearments. The 
members of a slave family may be forcibly separated so that they 
shall never more meet until the final judgment. And cupidity 



34 

often induces the masters to practise what the law allows. Broth- 
ers and sisters, parents and children, husbands and wives are torn 
asunder, and permitted to see each other no more. These acts are 
daily occurring in the midst of ns. The shrieks and the agony, 
often witnessed on such occasions, proclaim with a trumpet- 
tongue the iniquity and cruelty of our system. The cries of these 
sufferers go up to the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. There is not 
a neighborhood where these heart-rending scenes are not dis- 
played. There is not a village or road that does not behold the 
sad procession of manacled outcasts, whose chains and mournful 
countenances tell that they are exiled by force from all that their 
hearts hold dear. Our church, years ago, raised its voice of sol- 
emn warning against this flagrant violation of every principle of 
mercy, justice, and humanity. Yet we blush to announce to you 
and to the world that this warning has been often disregarded, 
even by those who hold to our communion. Cases have occurred 
in our own denomination vjhereprofessors of the religion of mercy 
have torn the mother from her children, and sent her hito a mer- 
ciless and returnless exile. Yet acts of discipline have rarely 
\never'\ followed such conduct." 

In 1835, Mr. Stewart, of Illinois, a ruling elder, in a 
speech urging the General Assembl}' of which he was a 
member, to act on the subject of slavery, bears this testi- 
mony to the existing state of things in the Presbyterian 
church : 

" I hope this Assembly are prepared to come out fully and de- 
clare their sentiments, that slaveholding is a most flagrant and 
heinous SIN. Let us not pass it by in this indirect way, while so 
many thousands and tens of thousands of our fellow-creatures are 
writliing under the lash, often inflicted too, by ministers and 
elders of the Presbyterian church. ...... 

" In this church, a man may take a free-born child, force it 
away from its parents, to whom God gave it in charge, saying, 
♦Bring it up for me,' and sell it as a beast or hold it in perpetual 
bondage, and not only escape corporeal punishment, but really be 
esteemed an excellent Christian. Nay, even ministers of the gos- 
pel, and Doctors of Divinity, may engage in this unholy trafiic, 
and yet sustain their high and holy calling. .... 

"Elders, ministers, and Doctors of Divinity are, with both 
hands, engaged in the practice." 

The speech from which the above is extracted, was 
made in support of various memorials and petitions from 
members of the Presbyterian church, asking that the 
General Assembly might proceed to carry out its ]:)rinci- 
ples as they were avowed in 1794 and in 1818. Nothing 
was done this session, further than to refer all such me- 
morials and petitions to a committee (a majority of whom 



35 

were known to "be opposed to the prayer of the memorial- 
ists), to report at the next session in 1836. 

At the meeting of the Assembly in 1836, the first thing 
that was done, to conciliate the excited slaveholders, was 
to elect one of them to be Moderator. 

The majority of the committee appointed in 1835, of 
which the Rev. Samuel Miller, D. D., and tlieological 
professor, was chairman, did accordingly report at the 
session of 1836, as follows : 

"That after the most mature deliberation, which they have 
been able to bestow on the interesting and important question re- 
ferred to them, they would most respectfully recommend to the 
General Assembly, the adoption of the following preamble and 
resolution : 

" Whereas, the subject of slavery is inseparably connected with 
the laws of many of the states in this Union, with which it is by 
no means proper for an ecclesiastical judicature to interfere, and 
involves many considerations in regard to which great diversity 
of opinion and intensity of feeling, are known to exist in the 
churches represented in this Assembly : And whereas, there is 
great reason to believe, that any action on the part of this Assem- 
bly in reference to this subject, would tend to distract and divide 
our churches, and would probably, in no wise promote the benefit 
of those whose welfare is immediately contemplated in the memo- 
rials in question," 

Therefore, Resolved, — 

1. "That it is not expedient for the Assembly to take any fur- 
ther ordf^r in relation to this subject. 

2. " That as the notes which have been expunged from our pub- 
lic formularies, and which some of the memorials referred to the 
committee request to have restored, were introduced irregularly — 
never had the sanction of the church — and therefore, never pos- 
sessed any authority — the General Assembly has no power, nor 
would they think it expedient to assign them a place in the au- 
thorized standards of the church," 

The minority of the committee, the Reverend Messrs. 
Dickey and Beman, reported the following resolutions : 
Resolved, — 

1. "That the buying, selling, or holding a human being as 
property, is in the sight of God a heinous sin, and ought to subject 
the doer of it to the censures of the church. 

2. " That it is the duty of every one, and especially of every 
Christian, who may bo involved in this sin, to free himself from 
its entanglement without delay. 

3. " That it is the duty of every one, especially of every Chris- 
tian, in the meekness and firmness of the gospel, to plead the cause 



36 

of the poor and needy by testifying; against the principle and prac- 
tice of slaveholding ; and to use his best endeavors to deliver the 
church of God from the evil ; and to bring about the emancipa- 
tion of the shives in these United States, and throughout the 
world." 

The slaveholding delegates to the number of forty- 
eight, met cqxirt, and Resolved, — 

"That if the General Assembly shall undertake to exercise au- 
thority on the subject of slavery, so as to make it an immorality, 
or shall in an}^ way declare that Christians are criminal in hold- 
ing slaves, that a declaration shall be presented by the Southern 
delegation, declining their jurisdiction in the case, and our deter- 
mination not to submit to such decision." 

At an adjourned meeting they adopted the following 
preamble and resolution, to be presented in the Assembly, 
as a substitute for those of Dr. Miller : — 

"Whereas the subject of slavery is inseparably connected with 
the laws of many of the states of this Union, in which it exists 
under the sanction of said laws, and of the Constitution of the 
United States ; and whereas, slavery is recognized in both the 
Old and New Testaments as an existing relation, and is not con- 
demned by the authority of God : therefore. Resolved, — The Gen- 
eral Assembly have no authority to assume or exercise jurisdic- 
tion in regard to the existence of slavery." 

The whole subject w^as finally disposed of by the adop- 
tion of the following preamble and resolution : — 

"Inasmuch as the Constitution of the Presbyterian church, in 
its preliminary and fundamental principles, declares that no 
church judicatories ought to pretend to make laws to bind the 
conscience in vi7-tice of their own authority; and as the urgency 
of the business of the Assembly, and the shortness of the time 
during w^hich they can continue in session, render it impossible 
to deliberate and decide judiciously on the subject of slavery in 
its relation to the church : therefore. Resolved, — That this whole 
subject be indefinitely postponed." 

A large number of memorials and petitions went up to 
the General Assembly of 1837. They were referred to a 
committee of which the Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, a slave- 
holder of South Carolina — the same who was moderator 
the year before — was chairman. After detaining them 
till nearly the usual time for the final adjournment of the 
Assembly, he reported that "the committee had had a 
number of papers submitted to them from various Synods, 
churches, and individuals, men and women, on the subject 
of slavery : and the committee had unanimously agreed 
(with the exception of a single member) to direct that 



87 

they be returned to tlie house, and that he should move 
to lay the whole subject on the table," which was ac- 
cordingly done by a vote of 97 to 28. 

In 1838 the Presbyterian church separated on doctrinal 
differences. Instead of one General Assembly, there are 
now two, known as the " Old School " and the '' New 
School." In the convention., which was held by the Old 
School preparatory to separation, it was Resolved, — 

" That in the judgment of this convention, it is of the greatest 
consequence to the best interests of our church that the subject 
of slavery shall not be agitated or discussed in the sessions of the 
ensuing General Assembly, and if any motion shall be made, or 
resolution oftered touching the same, this Convention is of opin- 
ion that the members of Convention in that body ought to unite 
in disposing of it, as far as may be possible, without debate." 

Since the separation the course of the Old School has 
been regulated by the spirit of this resolution.. It has 
done nothing on the subject. 

Petitions and memorials against slavery were presented 
in the New School Assembly at its first session in 1838, 
and referred to a committee which reported " that the 
applicants, for reasons satisfactory to themselves, have 
witlidrawn their papers." The committee was discliarged. 

In 1839 it referred the whole subject to the Presb3'te- 
ries, to do what they might deem advisable. 

In 1840 a large number of memorials and petitions 
against slavery were sent in, and referred to the usual 
committee. The committee reported a resolution, re- 
ferring to what had been done last year, declaring it 
inexpedient for the Assembly to do anything further on 
the subject. Several attempts were made by the abolition 
members of the Assembly to abtain a decided expre^ssion 
of its views, but they proved ineffectual, and the whole 
subject was indefinitehj j^ostjwned. Why, it may be 
asked, especially b}^ tliose who at the time the separation 
took place flattered themselves that the New School 
w^ould show itself recdly opposed to slavery, — Why has 
such a result been brought about ? The answer is plain : 
The New School Assembly is more solicitous to have the 
favor of the few slaveholders who are members, than to 
have the blessings of the poor who are perishing in their 
grasp ; more earnest to equal the Old School in numbers 
than to outstrip it in righteousness. 



• 88 

SENTIMENTS OF PRESBYTERIES AND 

SYNODS. 

Although many of the influential Presbyterian ministers 
in the free states, especially in the cities and large towns, 
have shown themselves ready to second the slaveholding 
ministers and laymen in their opposition to abolitionism, 
from some cause it has happened that the free state Pres- 
byteries and Sj'nods have not committed themselves 
directly on the question. They have attempted to stay 
the progress of abolitionism hj resolutions bearing on it 
indirectly^— h\xt well understood b}'- those who were to act 
under them as intended to exclude, as far as was safe, the 
question of abolition from the churches. 

The following resolutions were passed b}^ Presbyteries 
and Synods in slave states : — 

HOPEWELL PRESBYTERY, SOUTH CAROLINA. 

1. "Slavery has existed in the church of God from the time of 
Abraham to this day. INIembers of the church of God have held 
slaves bought with their money, and born in their houses; and 
this relation is not only recognized, but its duties are defined 
clearly, both in the Old and New Testaments. 

2. " Emancipation is not mentioned among the duties of the 
master to his slave, while obedience, ' even to the fro ward ' master, 
is enjoined upon the slave. 

8. " No instance can be produced of an otherwise orderly Chris- 
tian being reproved, much less excommunicated from the 
church, for the single act of holding domestic slaves, from the 
days of Abraham down to the date of the modern abolitionist." 

HARMONY presbytery OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 

'' Whereas. Sundry persons in Scotland and England, and others 
in the North, East, and West of our country, have denounced sla- 
very as obnoxious to the laws of God, some of whom have pre- 
sented before thegeneial assembly of our church and the congress 
of the nation memorials and petitions, with the avowed object of 
bringing into disgrace slaveholders, and abolishing the relation of 
masCer and slave; and whereas, from the said proceedings, and 
the statements, reasonings, and circumstances connected there- 
with, it is most manifest that those persons 'know not what they 
sa3% nor whereof the,y atBrm,' and with this iii;norance discover a 
spirit of self-righteousness and exclusive sanctity," &c. ; — 

Therefore, 1. Resolved, — . 

" That as the kingdom of our Lord is not of this world, His 
church, as such, has no right to abolish, alter, or effect any insti- 
tution or ordinance of men, political or civil," &c. 



39 

2. Kesolved : — "That slavery has existed from the days of those 
good old slaveholders and patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
(who are now in the kingdom of heaven) to tlie time when the 
Apostle Paul sent a run-away home to his master, Philemon, and 
wrote a Christian and fraternal letter to this slaveholder, which 
we find still stands in the canon of the Scriptures — and that slavery 
has existed ever since the days of the Apostle, and does now exist." 

3. Kesolved : — " That as the relative duties of master and slave 
are taught in the Scriptures, in the same manner as those of parent 
and child, and husband and wife, the existence of slavery itself is 
not opposed to the will of God ; and whosoever has a conscience 
too tender to recognize this relation as lawful, is 'righteous over 
much,' is ' wise above what is written,' and has submitted his neck 
to the yoke of men, sacrificed his Christian liberty of conscience, 
and leaves the infallible word of God for the fancies and doctrines 
of men."' 

CnARLESTON UNION PRESBYTERY. 

"It is a principle which meets the views of this body, that slav- 
ery, as it exists among us, is a political institution with which ec- 
clesiastical judicatories have not the smallest right to interfere ; 
and in relation to which any such interference, especially at the 
jiresent momentous crisis, would be morally wrong, and fraught 
with the most dangerous and pernicious consequences. The senti- 
ments which ice maintain, in com-mon with Christians at the South 
of every denomination, are sentiments which so fully approve them- 
selves to our consciences, are so identified with our solemn convic- 
tions of duty, that we should maintain them under any circum- 
stances." 

Kesolved, — 

"That in the opinion of this Presbytery, the holding of slaves, 
so far from being a sin in the sight of God, is no where condemned 
in his holy word — that it is in accordance with the example, or 
consistent with the precepts of patriarchs, apostles, and prophets, 
and that it is compatible with the most fraternal regard to the best 
good of those servants whom God may have committed to our 
charge; and that, therefore, they who assume the contrary posi- 
tion, and lay it down as a fundamental principle in morals and re- 
ligion, that all slaveholding is wrong, proceed upon false prin- 
ciples." 

SYNOD OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND GEORGIA. 

Resolved, unanimously, — [Dec, 1834]. 

" That in the opinion of this synod, abolition societies, and the 
principles on which they are founded in the United States, are 
inconsistent with the interests of the slaves, the rights of the 
holders, and the great principles of our political institution." 

SYNOD 0¥ VIRGINIA. 

The committee to whom were referred the resolutions, &.C., have 
according to order, had the same under consideration — and re- 



40 

spectfully report that in their judgment the following resolutions 
are necessary and proper to be adopted by the Synod at the pres- 
ent time : 

Whereas, the publications and proceedings of certain organ- 
ized associations, commonly called anti-slavery, or abolition soci- 
eties, which have arisen in some parts of our land, have greatly 
disturbed and are still greatly disturbing the peace of the church 
and of the country ; and the Synod of Virginia deem it a solemn 
duty which they owe to then)selves and to the community to de- 
clare their sentiments upon the subject; therefore, 

Resolved, unanimously, — 

" That we consider the dogma fiercely promulgated by said asso- 
ciations — that slavery as it exists in our slaveholding states is 
necessarily sinful, and ought to bo immediately abolished, and 
the conclusions which naturally follow from that dogma, as di- 
rectly and palpably contrary to the })lairiest principles of com- 
mon sense and common humanity, and to the clearest authority 
of the word of God." 

The above are all of the Old School. The following is 
from a slaveholding New School church, in Petersburg, 
Virginia (16th Nov., 1838) :— 

" AYheroas, the General Assembly did, in the year 1818, pass 
a law which contains provisions for slaves, irreconcilable with 
our civil institutions, and solemnly declaring slavery to be sin 
against God — a law at once offensive and insulting to the whole 
Southern community," 

1. E,esolved, — 

" That, as slaveholders, we cannot consent longer to remain in 
connection with any church where there exists a statute confer- 
ring the right upon slaves to arraign their masters before the 
judicatory of the church — and that too for the act of selling them 
, without their consent first had and obtained.'' 

2. Eesolved, — 

" That as the Great Head of the church has recognized the re- 
lation oi 7naster and slave, we conscientiously believe that slavery 
is not a sin against God as declared by the General Assembly." 

3. Resolved, — 

"That there is no tyranny more oppressive than that which is 
sometimes sanctioned by the operation of ecclesiastical law." 

SENTIMENTS OF PEESBYTERIAN MINISTEPvS. 
The Eev. Gardiner Spring, D. D., of New York: 
At the anniversary of the American Colonization Soci- 
ety at the city of AVashington, in 1839, this gentleman 
appeared on the platform as one of the speakers, with Mr. 



41 

Henry D. Wise (M. C), of Virginia, a slaveholder and 
professed duelist. The latter had said in his speech, the 
best ivay to meet the abolitionists teas with '•"DnponVs best " 
[gunpowder] and cold steel. The Siin, one of the New 
York city journals, tells ns — the Kev. Doctor spoke tvith 
sympathy of the sentiments of the South as evinced in the 
speech of 3fr.Wise. 

Since this. Dr. S. has preached a series of sermons to 
his congregation on slavery in its scriptural relations. 
These sermons have been printed, and are looked on by 
the pro-slavery party as highly serviceable to their cause. 

The Rev. Joel Parker, D. D., President of the Presby- 
terian Theological Seminary, New York : 

*' Abolitionism might be pronounced a sin as well as slavery." 

This was said, according to the American papers, at the 
last session of the (N. S.) General Assembly, in support- 
ing the proposition of a slaveholder, that " all action on 
the subject of slavery, should be declared by that body 
beyond its relations and functions." 

The Rev. Dr. P., at the beginning of the anti-slavery 
movement in the United States, was an abolitionist. He 
was sent to New Orleans, being thought eminently fitted 
as a Christian minister, to contend against the prevailing 
iniquities of that slaveholding city. He had not been 
there long, before he became a colonizationist. He hap- 
pened to be at Alton, Illinois, at the time the mob spirit 
was beginning to show its bloody intents toward the Rev. 
Mr. Lovejo3\ His injurious remarks in public against 
the abolitionists were thought to have contributed to ex- 
cite the mob to the fatal issue which took place. He 
afterwards returned to New York ; was elected pastor of 
the Tabernacle church, of which Mr. Lewis Tappan was 
a member; resisted the formation by that gentleman of 
an anti-slavery society among the members of the church ; 
jDrosecuted Mr. T. before the church session, on various 
charges, with a view of ejecting him from the church, and 
has, generally, since his return to New York, distinguish- 
ed himself by bitterness of spirit and language against 
the anti-slavery cause. Since all ivhich, he has been 
made a D. D. and President of the (N. S.) Theological 
Seminary in New York. 

The Rev. Samuel H. Cox, D. D., of the city of Brook- 



42 

lyn, moved the indefinite postponement of the slavery- 
question at the last (N. S.) General Assembly. On the 
motion being carried he exultingly said, " Our Vesuvius 
is safely capped for three years" — the Assembly not 
meeting again till 1843. Dr. Cox was at one time an 
abolitionist. 

The Eev. William S. Plummer, D. D., of Richmond: 

[This gentleman is the leader of tlie Old School party. 
He was absent from Richmond at the time the clergy in 
that city purged themselves in a body, from the charge of 
being favorably disposed to abolition. [See page 14.] 
On his return, he lost no time in communicating to the 
'•'Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence/' his 
agreement with his clerical brethen. The passages quot- 
ed occur in his letter to the chairman.] 

" I havo carefully watched this matter from its earliest exist- 
ence, and ever3-thing I have seen or heard of its character, both 
from its patrons and its enemies, has confirmed me, be3^()nd repent- 
ance, in the belief, that, let the character of Abolitionists be what 
it may, in the sight of the Judge of all the earth this is the most 
meddlesome, impudent, reckless, fierce, and wicUed excitement I 
ever saw. 

'• If Abolitionists will set the country- in a blaze, it is but fair 
that they should receive the first warming at the fire. 

" Let it be proclaimed throughout the nation that every move- 
ment made bj' the fanatics (so far as it has any effect in the South) 
does but rivet every fetter of the bondsman — diminish the proba- 
bility of an3^thing being successfully undertaken for making him 
either fit for freedom or likel}' to obtain it. We have the author- 
ity of JMontesquifU, Burke, and Coleridge, three eminent masters 
of the science of human nature, that of all men slaveholders are 
the most jealous of their liberties. One of Pennsylvania's most 
gifted sons has lately pronounced the South the cradle of liberty. 

"Lastly — Abolitionists are like infidels, wholly unaddicted to 
martyrdom for opinion's sake. Let them understand that they 
will he caught [lynched] if they come among us, and they will 
take good heed to keep out of our way. There is not one man 
among them who has any more idea of shedding his blood in this 
cause than he has of making war on the Grand Turk." 

Rev. Thomas S. \Yitherspoon^ of Alabama, writing to 
the editor of the Emancipator : 

•'I draw my warrant from the scriptures of the Old and ^N'ew 
Testaments to hold the slave in bondage. The principle of hold- 
ing the heathen in bondage is recognized by God. . . . When 
the tardy process of the law is too long in redressing our griev- 
ances, we of the South have adopted the summary remedy of 



43 

Judge Lynch ; and ^eall3^ I think it one of the most wholesome 
and salutary remedies for the malad}^ of Northern fanaticism that 
can be applied, and no doubt my worthy friend, the editor of 
the Emancipator and Human Eights, would feel the better of 
its enforcement, provided he had a Southern administrator. I go 
to the Bible for my warrant in all moral matters. . . Let your 
emissaries dare venture to cross the Potomac, and I cannot 
promise you that their fate will be less than Haman's. Then 
beware bow you goad an insulted, but magnanimous people to 
deeds of desperation." 

Rev. Robert N. Anderson, of Virginia : 

^'To the Sessions of the Presbyterian Congregations 
within the bounds of the West Hanover Presbyter}^:" 

"At the approaching stated meeting of our Presbyter}'-, I 
design to offer a preamble and string of resolutions on the subject 
of the use of wine in the Lord's Supper; and also a preamble 
and string of resolutions on the subject of the treasonable and 
abominably wicked interference of the Northern and Eastern 
fanatics, with our political and civil rights, our property, and 
our domestic concerns. You are aware that our clergy, whether 
with or without reason, are more suspected by the public, than 
the clergy of other denominations. Now, dear Christian hreth' 
ren, I humbly express it as my earnest wish, that you quit your- 
selves like men. If there be any stray goat of a minister among 
you, tainted with the blood-hound principles of abolitionism, let 
him be ferreted out, silenced, excommunicated, and left to the 
public to dispose of him in other respects. 

"Your affectionate brother in the Lord, 

Roi5ERT N. Anderson." 

THE PPvOTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHUPvCH. 

The number of members in this church is not known. 
It is, however, small when compared with the number in 
any of the churches that have been mentioned. Its con- 
gregations are mostly in the cities and towns, and they 
generally consist of persons in the wealthier classes of 
society. This, together with the smallness of its numbers 
and the authority of the bishops, has prevented it from 
being much agitated with tlie anti-slavery question. Its 
leading ministers, so far as they concern themselves at all 
about the slavery question, are in favor of the American 
colonization scheme. Their influence is, therefore, de- 
cidedly adverse to emancipation. The prevailing temper 
of the Protestant Episcopal church is thus testified of by 
John Jay, Esq., of the city of New York, himself an 
Episcopalian, in a pamphlet entitled, " Thoughts on the 
duty of the Episcopal church in relation to Slavery :" 



44 

"Alas ! for the expectation that she would conform to the spirit 
of her ancient mother! She has not merely remained a mute and 
careless spectator of this great conflict of truth and justice with 
hypocrisy and cruelty, but her very priests and deacons may be 
seen ministermg at the altar of slavery, offering their talents and 
influence at its unholy shrine, and openly repeating the awful 
blasphemy, that the precepts of our Saviour sanction the system of 
American slavery. Her Northern (free State) clergy, with rare 
exceptions, whatever they may feel upon this subject, rebuke it 
neither in public nor in private; and her periodicals, far from 
advancing the progress of abolition, at times oppose our societies, 
impliedly defendingslavery, as not incompatible with Christianity, 
and occasionally xoithholding information useful to the cause of 
freedom." 

Althongli apparently desirous of keeping clear of all 
connection with tlie anti-slavery movement, the Episco- 
palians have not failed when a suitable opportunity pre- 
sented itself to throw their influence against it. 

The Rev. Peter Williams, rector of St. Philip's church, 
New York, a colored gentlemen, was one of the executive 
committee of tlie American Anti-Slavery Society, in 
1834, when- the abolitionists were exposed in their persons 
and property to the fiercest onsets of pro-slavery mobs. 
The Bishop of the diocese (Rev. Benjamin F. Onderdonk, 
D. D.) required of Mr. Williams to relinquish his place 
in the committee, to which requisition Mr. W. thought it 
his duty to conform. 

Bishop Bowen, of Charleston, South Carolina, not long 
after the meeting in that city, in which the "reverend 
gentlemen of the clergy," had so handsomely and unani- 
mously " responded to public sentiment," volunteered in 
an address to the Convention of his diocese, a denuncia- 
tion of the "malignant philanthropy of abolition," and 
contrasted " the savageisra and outlawry consequent on 
abolition," with '-'domestic servitude under the benign 
influence of Christian principles and Christian institu- 
tions ! " — principles and institutions which denied Sunday 
School instruction to free colored children, and which, at 
the very time of the Address, tolerated the offer in the 
Charleston Courier oi fifty dollars for the head of a fugi- 
tive slave — principles and institutions which led Mr. Pres- 
ton to declare in his place as a Senator of the United 
States, " Let an abolitionist come within the borders of 
South Carolina — if we can catch him we will hang him." 



45 

In 1836, a clergyman in ]N"orth Carolina, of the name 
of Freeman, preached in the presence of his bishop (Rev. 
Levi S. Ives, D. D , a native of a free state), two sermons 
on the rights and duties of sLaveholders. In these he 
essayed to justify from the Bible the slavery both of 
white men and negroes, and insisted that " without a new 
revelation from heaven no man was authorized to pro- 
nounce slavery ivrong.^^ The sermons were printed in a 
pamphlet, prefaced with a letter to Mr. Freeman from the 
bisliop of North Carolina, declaring that he had "^listened 
with most unfeigned pleasure " to his discourses, and 
advised their publication as being " urgently called for at 
the present time." 

,"The Protestant Episcopal Society for the advance- 
ment of Christianity in South Carolina" thought it expe- 
dient, and in all likelihood with Bishop Bowen's approba- 
tion, to republish Mr. Freeman's pamphlet as a religious 
tract r 

The Churchman is edited by a Doctor of Divinity, late 
an instructor in a theological seminary, and enjoys the 
especial patronage of the Bisliop of New York, and was 
recently officially recommended by him to the favor of the 
convention. The editor has frequently assailed the abo- 
litionists in his columns in bitter and contemptuous terms. 
He has even volunteered to defend the most cruel and 
iniquitous enactment of the slave code. In reference to 
the legal prohibition of teaching the colored population to 
read, the editor says : 

"All the knowledge which is necessary to sulvation, all the 
knowledge of our duty toward God, and our duty toward our 
neighbor, may be communicated by oral instruction, and. there- 
fore a law of the land interdicting other raea*ns of instruction does 
not trench upon the law of God." 

A certain congregation in the diocese of New York is 
said to hold its cemetery by a tenure which forbids the 
interment of any colored person ; so that if an Episcopal 
colored clergyman happen to die in that parish, he would 
be indebted to others than his Episcopal brethren for a 
grave ! 

There are instances of regularly ordained ministers, 
rectors of parishes, men having as valid a commission to 
preach the gospel as any other presbyters in the Episcopal 
church, who are virtually denied a seat in her Ecclesias- 



4(3 

tical councils, solely because they are men of color. The 
rector of a colored church in Philadelphia, is excluded bj 
an express canon of the Diocesan Convention. 

" The Gexeral Theological Semixary of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church in the United 
States," is in the city of New York. It is called the 
General Seminary, because it is under the superintendence 
of the whole church ; the board of trustees being composed 
of the Bishops, ex-officio, and upwards of one hundred 
clerical and lay gentlemen, representing the different 
states and territories of the Union. It was intended, of 
course, for the theological education of the Protestant 
Episcopal ministry. 

Alexander Crummel, a colored young gentleman of 
New Yorkj made application to become a " candidate for 
holy orders" in the church, and was duly admitted as 
such. In due time Mr. Crummel received from the 
Bishop of the diocese the usual circular in such cases, in 
which he was told "unless you belong to the General 
Tlieological Seminary, as it is my wish that all the candi- 
dates of this diocese should, when not prevented by una- 
voidable circumstances, 3'ou will be governed," &c. 

Tlie section in the statutes of the seminar\'' regulating 
admission is plain and imperative: — " Ever}'' person pro- 
ducing to the faculty satisfactory evidence of his having 
been admitted a candidate for lioly orders," &c., "shall be 
received as a student of the seminary." 

It does not appear from the onl\^ account we have at 
hand, of this matter, that Mr. Crummel made application 
to the facult}^ It is, however, to be presumed he did, and 
that the faculty put him off by referring him to the board 
of trustees. To the board, then, he made his application, 
of which an account is given in the following 

EXTRACT FROM THE MINUTES: 

Tuesday, June 25i'A, 1839. 

" A communication from Mr. Crummel, asking admission to 
the Seminary as a student, was read, and on motion referred to a 
Committee consistincj of the following gentlemen, appointed by 
the chair : Eight Rev. Bishop Doane, Rev. Drs. Milnor, Taylor, 
and Smith, Messrs. D. B. Ogden, Newton, and Johnson." 

Jime 2Q>th, 1839. 

" The Right Rev. Bishop Doane, chairman of the committee on 
the petition of Mr. Crummel, asked to be relieved from further 
service on that committee, which request was granted. 



47 

"The Eight Kev. Bishop Onderdonk, of Pennsylvania, was on 
motion appointed chairman of the committee, to fill the vacancy 
thus occasioned." 

June nth, 1839. 

" The committee on the petition of Mr. Crummel, submitted 
the following: 

"The committee to whom was referred the petition of Mr. 
Crummel, respectfully report, that having (/e^i6eraie^?/ considered 
the said petition, they are of opinion that it ought not to be 
granted, and they accordingly recommend to the Board of Trus- 
tees the fullowiirg resolution : Resolved, That the prayer of the 
petitioner be not granted. 

"The Kev. Dr. Hawks,* moved that the resolution recom- 
mended in the report be adopted." 

Mr. Huntington moved, — 

"That the whole subject be recommitted, with instructions to 
the committee to report, that the matters embraced in the petition 
of Mr. Crummel are, according to Section 1, of Chap. VII. of the 
Statutes, referrible to the faculty rather than this board." 

[This motion was lost, through fear, we are constrained 
to believe, lest the faculty would not, if compelled to act, 
refuse to Mr. Crummel a right that w^as so obviously his.] 

" Whereupon the question upon accepting the report and 
adopting the resolution recommended, was taken up and decided 
in the affirmative. 

"The Right Rev. Bishop Doane gave notice, that he should, on 
the morrow, ask leave to {iresent to the board, and to enter upon 
the minutes bl protest against the decision. 

F7'idai/, Jmie 28th. 

" The Right Rev. Bishop Doane, who had yesterday given no- 
tice of his intention to ask leave to enter a protest, &c,, changed 
his intention as to the manner of presenting the subject, and 
asked leave to state to the board his reasons, with a view to the 
entering of the same on the minutes, for dissenting from the vote 
of the majority on the report of the committee, to whom was re- 
ferred the petition of Mr. Crummel. Leave was not granted^ 

During these proceedings, attempts were made by the 
Bishop of New York to prevail on Mr. Crummel to with- 
draw his application for admission, by assuring him "the 
members of the faculty were willing to impart to him 
\_private~\ instruction in their respective departments; and 
that more evil than benefit would result both to the 
church and himself, by a formal application in his behalf 
for admission into the seminary." 

* Dr. H:iwk3 is the Historian of the P]piscopaI church in the United States. 
If it be true, as we have seen stated in an American newspaper, that tliis 
gentleman is himself of mixed blood— and h\i complexion a little favors the 
statement— it proves that the admixture does not deteriorate the intellectual 
powers; for in the oratory of the pulpit, and as a writer, Dr. H. stands, de- 
servedly, among the distinguished men of America. 



48 

The reader will not have failed to notice with what 
care every allusion to the cause of refusing Mr. Crummel 
admission is excluded from the minutes, and to feel that 
the very fact that the cause does not appear in the 
minutes — leaving it to be inferred, that it was for some- 
thing too base to be recorded there — is an act of injustice 
to him that adaiits of no excuse.^ 

"An Episcopalian^^ of New York, jealous for the honor 
of his church, jDublished in one of the journals of that 
city, a full account of these proceedings. The Bishop of 
New York made a short reply to but one of his state- 
ments (an immaterial one), and concluded by saying, 
that in the discharge of his duties and responsibilities, he 
shoidd not certainly he swayed by any appecd that might 
be made to p)opidar feeling. 

POSTSCRIPT. 

We would have the reader bear in mind, that the fore- 
going presents but one side of the anti-slavery cause in 
the several churches whose proceedings have been consid- 
ered ; and that in them all, there are abolitionists earn- 
estly laboring to purify them from the defilements of 
slaver^^ ; and that they have strong encouragement to 
proceed, not only in view of what they have already 
effected toward that end, but in the steady increase of 
their numbers, and in other omens of success. 

We wish him also to bear in mind, that the churches 
which have been brought before him are not the only 
American churches which are guilty in giving their coun- 
tenance and support to slavery. Of others we have said 
nothing, simply because, to examine their cases, would be 
to make this work too long for the object we have in 
view — and because enough has been said to show substan- 
tially the state of the slavery question in America, so far 
as the CHURCH in that country is connected with it. 

Lastly. — We take pleasure in assuring him that there 
are considerable portions of the Methodist, Baptist, and 
Presbyterian churches, as well as the entire of some of the 
smaller religious bodies in America, that maintain a com- 
mendable testimony against slaver}^ and its abominations. 

* Mr. Crummel became a member of the Theological department of Yale 
College, a Congregational institution, where we wish we could say he was 
there treated in a manner that would have been the most agreeable to him, 
as well as most honorable to the distinguished professor whose lectures he 
attended: but we cannot. 



LBJe'19 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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